AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not. It’s life. No one said it would be fair.”
Gram is not usually a tender woman. There have been spare moments in my life that she bestows softness to those around her. She is generous and she is compassionate, but not usually gentle in those things.
Now, though, gentle is all she is.
“Now, listen to me,” she says in a voice saved just for me. “What you two did was… unacceptable.”
“I know.”
“A betrayal.”
“Yes, I know.”
“And I wish it had never happened.”
“Me too.”
Gram pauses. “But I’m willing to forgive everything.”
My heart lightens. “Thank you, Gram. Thank you.”
“Sit up.”
There’s the Gram I know and love. I follow her instructions.
She whips a handkerchief out of her sleeve. “Wipe your face.”
I do so, quickly.
“Listen carefully.”
I nod.
“I won’t withhold your inheritance from you,” Gram says. “I never really meant it, I suppose.”
“Except for the contracts you had us sign,” I reply.
“Everything requires a contract when you’re a Gladstone. You know this.”
I chuckle and remember my own contract Jude and I shared. The one I tore up when I got home after the wedding that wasn’t. “Yes, guess you’re right.”
“I have only one condition.”
“Anything, Gram.”
Her stiff upper lip softens into a smile. “Follow me.”
Gram leads me through the house and into the backyard. The rain has let up almost entirely. The sky is painted with grays and yellows, light and shade fighting for dominance.
I haven’t been in the backyard since the wedding. Seeing it again hits me with a dark cloud of sadness. I can picture it all as it was. The multitude of chairs, the smiling faces, Gram sitting up proudly, Caroline looking as beautiful as ever.
And Jude…
My Jude.
For a brief time, she was mine. I was so close to having her. In her beautiful wedding dress.
I nearly had her for the rest of my life. And I just had to fuck it –
